What’s really wrong with Philippine science?
September 26th, 2008 by blackshamaProfessor Flor Lacanilao, a marine scientist of well renown, former chancellor of the University of the Philippines Visayas and director of the aquaculture department of SEAFDEC has recently rocked the Pinoy science establishment in a series of essays and letters to the blurbs and the blogs. I won’t post the links here but the reader is directed to google Lacanilao’s name. You would get hits to many of his comments.
Essentially, Prof Laca as he is fondly called by students decries the lack of meritocracy in the science establishment, pointedly criticizing the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). This according to him has retarded science in the Philippines and it closely parallels how appointments are made in the political establishment. Lacanilao derides the NAST for recommending “non-scientists” as academicians. Like its American counterpart, NAST is the highest body that determines and recommends science policy to the President.
But what makes a scientist? Lacanilao stresses the importance of publication in peer reviewed journals. Publication is the culmination of a scientist’s job. In the Philippines poor research practice contributes to the lack of a publication culture and severely compromises graduate training and education. This is compounded by the lack of competent research supervisors according to Dean Caesar Saloma of the UP College of Science.
According to Professors Lacanilao and Saloma, the lack of funding is not really the problem. Lacanilao has pointed out that since the presidency of Fidel V Ramos, science funding rose from 800 million pesos to 3 billion today. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Congress has continued increased science funding, appropriating almost 1 billion for the completion of the National Science Complex in UP Diliman.
Despite the increased appropriations and more than 500 MSc and PhD degrees awarded by the UP College of Science its its founding in 1983, publication rates have remained low. Graduate theses are rarely if ever published and many research findings end up as unread technical reports. Lacanilao suggests that publication be made a requirement for advanced degrees and for award and renewal of research grants, award of professorial chairs and tenure.
While private universities such as Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle, Silliman, San Carlos and Santo Tomas have vastly increased their research infrastructure, very few international publications have come from these schools. Lacanilao points out that in 2002, 40% of the publications came from UP and 8% from the private universities just mentioned. The remainder came from international research organizations based in the Philippines such as IRRI.
It is from the universities that publications must come from. Unfortunately only UP requires a thesis for award of its MSc degrees. In other universities, a thesis is often not required a.k.a. “non-thesis option”. This undermines developing a science research culture. This is incubated in the universities.
Publications are a vital link to making public the results of vetted science research. Private business can read the results either in its original format or in techinical science format (Scientific American, New Scientist etc). This can translate to new technologies with huge economic potential and also boost basic science education.
Lacanilao also takes aim at the media for presenting non-science and pseudoscience before science. But the media is a product of the lack of scientific culture in the Philippines and is tied with our poor education system. I jokingly told Prof Laca that media practitioners (many of which graduated from UP) shouldn’t cut or sleep through their 11:30 AM-1:00 PM Nat Sci classes if they want to learn science. Seriously though, a subject in science journalism should be taught at UP. I spoke with the journ professors and we can’t identify a person with the right credentials to teach it. Perhaps DOST should provide scholarships in this arena.
Obviously Lacanilao stepped on a lot of toes. He has been both praised and derided in the Pinoy science community. But he isn’t inventing statistics. He has the empirical data and the appropriate analysis to show what is really wrong.
Our scientific enterprise started in the Spanish colonial period with the efforts of some friars. Dr Jose Rizal is a product of that enterprise. The Americans created a formal structure for our science establishment, the Bureau of Science, the granddaddy of our DOST. Since then thousands of Filipinos have been provided scholarships in science and much has been invested. But where are results of the investment?
The Pinoy science community has to do a lot of reassessing or else the latest 1 billion investment may go to waste. Not only DOST is funding scholarships but also CHED.
But as DOST officials have told us, even with the money, they are on their knees begging students to apply for their grants. DOST has even relaxed its once stringent requirements (like the international travel ban for two years and a return service in government). Still no takers.
And myself have found it extremely difficult to get good research assistants. I noted that their basic science skills are wanting. This is a result of poor science training in the BSc level. I believe it is the lack of real “hands on” science. They learn good science though, but it is of the textbook kind!
And I wholeheartedy agree with Prof Laca when he wrote
“Whereas science alone cannot save the Philippines, the Philippines without science cannot be saved.”
There is cause for hope. While doing environmental sampling in an urban poor community near Markina River, we atrracted a crowd of children ( I couldn’t bear to shoo them away!) with their science teacher from the nearby public school. One boy declared “Gusto ko maging scientist!”
September 26, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I always thought it was about funding. What is our science funding as a % of Philippine GDP?
I think it’s 2.5 to 3% of GDP in Europe.
September 26, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Welcome to FV!
Your description of what ails the local science organizations sounds similar to what ails our local sports associations.
One bright (or perhaps promising) sign i notice is that some high school students get awards whenever they attend international competitions. (I think it was Cocoy who blogged about one such case her in FV.)
I also recently posted a series of links to a Silicon Valley type initiative having to do with developing Solar Energy technologies (as advocated by Dennis Posadas).
One thing that comes to mind is if the practice of professional/peer reviewed journals is wanting, maybe the local blogging community (or other Web2.0 tools) can take up the slack by hooking up local scientists with similar interests.
September 26, 2008 at 6:35 pm
It is a dissapointing 0.14%. :-( UNESCO suggests at least 1 % GDP must be for science but to give credit where credit is due, our government has increased appropriations partly because we have a real scientist as DOST secretary not your usual science bureaucrat.
BTW, the 2008 budget of DOST is now 5.29 billion. But remember that much of this will be used to pay the bureaucracy and the maintenance and operation of DOST’s science institutes including the Philippine Science High School.
There is talk in the science community that PSHS must be taken off from DOST and let the money be spent for more advanced degree scholarships. (The idea is that DOST should not deal with basic education) But PSHS is a showpiece for the DOST, that’s why there are PSHS campuses in the various regions. If people think of DOST, they think of Pisay!
September 26, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Hi cvj
I think bloggers could help if they can produce high quality science blogs and promote local scientists to the public. I think there is a readership here. Best of all Pinoys here and oversease would read about world class science done here (despite the limitations) and not in some lab abroad.
The Philippine Science Letters is functioning as an online high quality venue for peer reviewed Pinoy science and also as a sort of blog.
September 26, 2008 at 6:50 pm
blackshama, the above (at 6:40 pm) sounds like a good initiative that the FV Contributors, either individually or as a collective can move forward with. We can feature local scientists and their works.
September 26, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Amador Muriel is in town from Geneva and Dresden. I had him over for dinner this week. He is holding forth at the National Institutes of Physics in Diliman. He hasn’t been involved with the Large Hadron collider though he is apparently personal friends with the cryogenics head of the LHC (the part that broke down!). Amador is still pursuing his theory of turbulence and is looking to publish science textbooks here. Lots of Filipinos are active in science worldwide and I think they will eventually influence others who are here. I hold little hope for the institutions. UP Diliman has been in the thralls of the Left for too long, as when Dodong Nemenzo became President and was only recently replaced. I remember him talking to Tina Monson Palma in 1998 shortly after Erap appointed him. He declared that Marxism Leninism is the most advanced form of human thought. Ugh!
September 26, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Ugh indeed it is. The moist advanced form of human thought is ta dahhhh…… Darwinism! :-)
September 27, 2008 at 11:02 am
Thnaks for featuring the scientist, blackshama. Peer review? It’s unheard of in our culture. What we usually do is scratch our friend’s back so he’ll scratch ours, too. Tapos, marami dyan nahihiya mag publish sa mga foreign journals baka mabuking na incompetent sila. I’m not just talking about the scientists.
September 27, 2008 at 11:05 am
DJB, UP presidents tend to be so unremarkable.
October 7, 2008 at 1:41 pm
“Seriously though, a subject in science journalism should be taught at UP. I spoke with the journ professors and we can’t identify a person with the right credentials to teach it. Perhaps DOST should provide scholarships in this arena.”
_________________________
Actually, there is a such a course in UP, but not in Diliman. In UP Los Banos, they have BS development communication and one of its majors is Science Communication. As part of the curriculum, all those majoring under it are required to take technical courses such as statistics, physics, chemistry, forestry, agriculture (basically any hard science course offered in UPLB). Sadly, most Filipinos only look at UP Diliman so they’re not aware of this. The Department of Science Communication collaborates with almost every science institution not just in the country, but also abroad. I know for a fact that DevCom is widely known internationally because I came from that college and majored in Science Communication.
November 2, 2008 at 3:24 am
^^^
That’s the sad part. Locally, it’s UPD that is known to people. Alas, UPLB’s arena is international.
March 27, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Science and Technology are the lifeblood for the progress of a
nation. It is very sad, that most of our Scientists and Technical
People have migrated abroad. The Low Pay is the cause. Until
people are paid well. They will always find ways to get better pay.
December 22, 2009 at 6:47 am
But as DOST officials have told us, even with the money, they are on their knees begging students to apply for their grants. DOST has even relaxed its once stringent requirements (like the international travel ban for two years and a return service in government). Still no takers.
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begging students to apply for their grants?! eh bakt nila tinigil o ni-limit yung scholarship grants to 1 student per university for the current semester? balita ko dahil daw sa parating ang eleksyon! Yung mga kaibigan kong graduates ng UPLB,ilan sa kanila with honors pa ay na-discourage kasi wala daw funding kaya di kayang suportahan ng DOST yung mga gusto mg-MS o PhD. Harapin na natin ang katotohanan na marami sa mga estudyante natin ang galing sa mahihirap na pamilya (lalo na kung taga-UPLB ka) at di kayang tustusan ang sarili nilang pag-aaral kaya gustuhin man namin di kami makapag-pursue ng graduate studies, tapos hindi ka pa suportado ng DOST. Marami sa amin napipilitan mag-trabaho muna sa mga call centers para suportahan ang aming pamilya, mga scholarships lamang ang nagbibigay sa amin ng allowance para makapag-aral habang nagtatrabaho, tapos sasabihinh ng DOST walang takers?! ugh.